CARTERET COUNTY, N.C. (WNCT)–The American Hospital Association named Carteret Health Care as a Most Wired Organization for using technology to enhance patient care and operating efficiency.

It’s one of only 13 hospitals in North Carolina to be recognized.

The hospital is using smart phones, telehealth for at risk stroke patients as well as remote monitoring to create more ways for patients to access health care services.

It’s data driven healthcare.

“So especially in our oncology clinic, they have a system where they can text each other without having to run through the clinic and find the provider, which would delay care,” Angela Best, R.N. said. “We have the ability to actually send a text message to each of the individuals in the clinic, whether it’s the scheduler or the physician or the nurse.”

Of course, with an increase in all that technology comes an increased need to keep patients’ data safe.

“A huge portion of that is cyber security,” Kyle Marek, CIO, said. “Our organization is putting a lot of effort into cyber security to protect the data that we’re collecting from our patients.”

The hospital is continuously one of the first in the state to use new technologies, like Certascan which was rolled out earlier this year.

“That’s where they take a digital imprint of your baby’s foot as soon as it’s born and that’s kept electronically for its lifetime so the patients and the family can look at that,” Marek said. “They use it to identify a baby down the road if there’s ever an incident.”

Additional technology includes algorithms in documentation to identify patients at risk for sepsis and a Philips AlluraClarity machine which is a high image but low dose of radiation x-ray machine; one of the lowest in the state.

“Our organization overall is constantly going out and looking for new technologies and for new ways to utilize technology,” Marek said. “We’re a proactive organization and that takes involvement from the entire community and physician staff and the staff overall.”

Other hospitals in our state that received the recognition include Vidant Health, Duke University Hospital, Carolinas Health Care System of Charlotte, Novant Health System, and University of North Carolina Health Care. For a complete list of Most Wired organizations visit, http://www.hhnmag.com.

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